As the Giants welcomed back their player who tested positive for COVID-19, Joe Judge last week acknowledged a stark reality: Rising coronavirus outbreaks, the upcoming bye week and then Thanksgiving presented serious challenges to a team attempting to keep the virus at bay.

“We’ve got to make sure to stay proactive with things and not think ‘OK, we’re beyond this, we’re past it,’ ” Judge said. “You see every day a different team has something pop up, different tests. The biggest warnings you get from different teams who have dealt with this over a long term is the duration of how tests pop up. It’s kind of like weeds. You think you pulled them all out and then there’s one growing right underneath the other one. To me, the focus has been trying to keep this out of our building as much as possible. That’s easier said than done.”

Indeed.

The Giants learned Monday night that kicker Graham Gano tested positive for COVID-19, The Post has learned, and Tuesday morning triggered the NFL’s coronavirus protocols. Gano was immediately self-isolated and, through contact tracing, two staff members were identified as close contacts and told to remain home.

The Quest Diagnostics practice facility remained open to staff, but all players were told to stay home. Judge gave the team off as a “Victory Monday” after beating the Eagles 27-17 and players were scheduled to be in for work on the field and in meetings Tuesday and Wednesday before getting the rest of the week off for their bye. There was no on-field work Tuesday and all meetings were held remotely.

Gano is the second Giants player to test positive. Guard Will Hernandez did so three weeks ago and missed two games. With the Giants not playing again until Nov. 29 in Cincinnati, the positive test is less impactful to the team schedule. Last time, contact tracing forced several players to miss a day of practice, leaving the Giants with only four offensive linemen available to work.

Gano, 33, was put on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The expectation is he should be available to kick against the Bengals after missing a few days of practice time next week. The Giants as a precaution signed kicker/punter Ryan Santoso from their practice squad. Santoso was one of the practice squad players protected every week, with situations such as this in mind.

If the Giants have to go with Santoso, it will be a foray into the unknown. He was with the Titans for three games last December but did not attempt any field goals. He did have touchbacks on nine of his 16 kickoffs. He is an extra-large kicker at 6-foot-5 and 258 pounds. He was in the Lions’ camp in 2018 and 2019 and kicked and punted at the University of Minnesota.

Gano, in his first year with the Giants, has hit 20 consecutive field goals (and 21 of 22 for the season). After the game Sunday, the Giants announced Gano was signed to a three-year extension, worth $14 million.

Even though players are off Thursday through Sunday this week, they cannot leave the area. All players are required to go to the team facility every day to get their COVID-19 test.

Given that the players must stay local, Judge anticipated many of them coming into the facility during their days off to work out. It is not yet known when the facility will reopen to players.

Players bringing in family members from out of town for the bye week and upcoming Thanksgiving also presents challenges unlike any other year.

“If there’s someone coming in town, obviously, we want to control who’s coming in,” Judge said. “We want to make sure they’re smart about the number of people we expose ourselves to. We want to make sure that on the front end, we make sure that we test and that we make sure we’re putting ourselves in the safest environment possible. At the same time, we’re realists. We want to make sure that if something does happen, we’re treating it the best way possible and that we’re doing it in the safest way possible.”